Mother's Day

We had our second baby girl!!

Okay, okay. Maybe that is actually my niece, Zoey. But she is cute enough to claim as our own. :) For Mother's Day this year, Gabby and I were in Utah with my mom and Jason's mom and celebrating the fact that my sister, Kira, is now a mom. So it was certainly a good holiday. I always forget that Mother's Day applies to me now, too. Somehow this year, I even managed to get three special days out of it. On Saturday, we had a nice dinner (and amazing pie) with Jason's family. On Sunday, Michael grilled up some yummy food at my sisters and we took the shots below.

Gabby kept positioning herself for more photos, so we went along with it.

Hooray for moms!

We returned the next day, exhausted from traveling (and a delayed flight) and Jason was full of surprises. Not only did he pick us up from the airport, when we thought he couldn't, but he told me that he got me some flowers. As I wandered the house evaluating the work he had done while we were away, this is what I discovered in the den:

WHAT?!?!?! I couldn't believe it! A new computer!? That is the best bouquet of flowers I have ever received. I knew that my computer was reaching its last days, but I was prepared to wait it out another year before something so nice as this (don't tell him that). :) Thank you, My Love! It is nice to be home!

Visiting Family

My sister, Kira, had a baby at the end of March, so I took Gabby to visit her new cousin. Gabby was so excited to be around Zoey and was very gentle and loving, giving many kisses. Let's hope that that will remain the case with her sibling once she realizes that my attention is divided....

A happy grandmother.

We spent the second half of the week with Jason's family and had a great time at the aquarium. Gabby's favorite was, naturally, the penguins. (The real penguin photos were not anything worth posting.)

She also enjoyed trying to touch the sting rays (or at least playing in the water).

And of course, anything that appears to be a slide, Gabby will be sure to slide down, as was the case with this random frog statue that she couldn't get enough of.

So we had to take her to a park where she could go on the real slide.

It was a wonderful trip! Gabby is still naming all of the family members that we visited and we are looking forward to doing it again soon. Maybe Jason will be invited to join in next time....

April Catch-Up

There is so much to catch up on! From festivals to moving to house guests, here is a glimpse of what we have been up to:

At the beginning of April we went to the tulip festival. It was amazing to see fields and fields of gorgeous tulips - including so many varieties that I never knew existed. Gabby did a very good job at smelling every flower she came across.

Of course, her photogenic abilities disappeared with her mood after about 20 minutes. Most of our photos of that day look more like this:

Maybe next year we'll get some smiles out of her.

Despite Gabby's inexplicable bad mood, we had a great time with our friends, Heather, Chris & Josh.

April 21st, we moved to our first real house!! All went smoothly with the purchase and the move. Gabby spent her time helping out by unloading her dresser over and over.

She also discovered new places to explore. At one point, we caught her curled up entirely inside on one of these shelves, we just didn't manage to capture it on camera.

We are now getting settled and loving the space and yard. (The cookies below were a nice housewarming gift from some of Jason's colleagues.)

Come visit us sometime!

Jason's sister, Cami, was the first to test out our new place, visiting from Denver. We attempted to return to the tulip festival, but discovered the tulips had already all been beheaded. Luckily, we still had a great time in the quant little town.

Together, we visited downtown Seattle and enjoyed the scenery, markets, and good food. It was so much fun to have her!